OnePlus Nord N10 Review: The Cheapest 5G Smartphone Still Has Some Incomplete Points

The OnePlus Nord N10 5G inherits many similarities with the OnePlus 8T. The device has a flat screen, a left-angled mole, a glossy back and an induction cooker camera. However, the product is currently only available in black, without the fancy blue options like its senior. At the same time, the device also does not use disruptive designs with many unique effects like its relatives Realme or Oppo. Therefore, the appearance of Nord N10 does not really stand out.

Another unfortunate point is that the Nord N10 has been removed from the dedicated switch next to the power button, which specializes in quickly switching between Vibration – Ring or Silent modes, which used to be a “specialty” on OnePlus smartphones. This is a detail that OnePlus learned from the iPhone, but slightly modified it when swiping vertically and had 3 steps instead of horizontal and only 2 steps like Apple’s phones.

At the same time, due to the lower price segment, the screen border of the Nord N10 5G is quite thick, especially the chin part. The chassis and back are only made of plastic, not glass and metal like the elder. The body is also relatively thick and heavy (9mm, 190g) although the battery is not too large (4300 mAh).

The glossy material on the black version makes the device very slippery, easy to stick to sweat and fingerprints. The device does not come with a free case, and is not pre-glued to the screen, so you need to be very careful when using it. In return, Nord N10 feels solid, compact, not creaking even when pressing hard on the back, edges or screen.

Similar to mid-range phones from “brothers” Oppo, Realme, Nord N10 also have a screen protruding from the bezel, making the device look less seamless. But the edge is smooth, not too sharp, so it doesn’t cause a lot of stress when holding or performing swiping operations.

90Hz screen is smooth, clear but much blue, low brightness

Nord N10’s screen has Full HD + resolution, 1080 x 2400 pixels, 20: 9 aspect ratio, 6.49 inch size, IPS LCD panel protected by Gorilla Glass 3. This screen has a frequency 90Hz scanning should bring a smooth scrolling experience, smooth multitasking.

The strange thing is that by default, the screen is left at a rather cold white balance, much blue. You should adjust in the settings for more accurate colors. The screen of the Nord N10 has HDR support, can watch HDR videos well on YouTube, but because the screen brightness is not too high, the contrast is average, so it does not leave much impression.

The screen brightness is not high, so taking pictures outdoors in the sun or backlit with the Nord N10 is quite difficult. It is difficult to see clearly the image in the viewfinder to compose correctly. I often have to use one hand to block the sunlight hitting the screen to be able to see well temporarily.

Using an LCD screen, Nord N10 does not have an in-screen fingerprint like AMOLED devices. The device does not use the fingerprint solution on the power button like many competitors, but still uses the traditional back fingerprint style. This fingerprint for fast and accurate identification speed, but placing on the back makes when placing the device on the table, you will have to switch to using a password or pattern or have to pick up the phone to be able to use it, inconvenient. compared to the fingerprint on the power button.

The surprise is that Nord N10 is equipped with dual speakers, using the speakerphone as the second external speaker, creating a clear stereo effect, the volume of the 2 speakers is balanced, not much difference, helping to increase the vividness when listening to music. , watch movies, play games.

The 64MP camera is good, but the 8MP super wide-angle camera is a completely different story

Regarding the camera, Nord N10 has a system of 4 rear cameras including: a 64MP main camera and an 8MP 119-degree ultra-wide-angle camera, along with 2MP macro and mono lenses. The front selfie camera has a resolution of 16MP.

The camera interface is similar to recent OnePlus machines with the hand-scanning feature from bottom to top to call the mode switch menu, saving time having to go through each mode, suitable for advanced users who need access. Quickly enter night mode or take professional photos.

The device allows double-clicking the power button to quickly open the camera, which is very convenient, similar to Samsung smartphones. However, translation errors still appear on the camera of the Nord N10 when the portrait mode to remove fonts (Potrait) is translated into Portrait mode.

In bright enough conditins, the 64MP main camera of the OnePlus Nord N10 has a fast focusing speed and saves images. Photos obtained from this camera have sharp, good details, good light range. The color is in a natural direction, a bit pale, not in a bright tone like the brothers Realme, Oppo. Sharpness is also moderate, not too harsh.

In low light, the 64MP camera still gives decent image quality, but the shutter speed and image saving are significantly reduced. Photos at this time are easy to blur, lose focus if you do not patiently hold the camera.

Similar to most smartphones today, Nord N10 also has a night mode to improve low-light photos, working on both the 64MP main camera and 8MP ultra-wide-angle camera. The night mode on the Nord N10 is not to the extent of “turning night into day” like the flagships, but enough to deliver significantly better low-light photos. You will immediately notice the differences in sharpness, detail, color, and light range when taking photos with this mode. Of course, it should be noted that night mode is only suitable for still images, and still has to hold the camera firmly.

With the 8MP ultra-wide-angle camera, the photo quality is just average. Photos taken from this camera often show sharpness, low detail, narrow light range, and heavy purple cast when shooting backlit. In low light, the ultra-wide-angle camera on the Nord N10 continues to plummet in quality. Fortunately, the night mode works with both the ultra-wide-angle camera and helps to improve the image quality “a heaven and one” compared to when shooting automatically. However, the night mode on the super wide-angle camera of the Nord N10 that I experienced worked quite unlucky, sometimes it did not.

The 2MP macro camera is not surprising when it comes to just enough numbers because of its low resolution, poor detail, and also does not allow getting too close to the subject, not to mention only manual focus. Using a 64MP main camera and digital zoom from 2X to 5X, you can also create impressive and much easier macro photos.

Photos taken with the 2MP macro camera

The front 16MP selfie camera takes good photos with high definition, detail, wide light range, does not beautify the face too much, retains the natural focus.

Fast performance, good fight in heavy games

In terms of configuration, the OnePlus Nord N10 5G attracts attention when it is equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 690 processor, 6GB RAM with 128GB internal memory, which can be expanded via a memory card slot up to 512GB located with SIM 2 slot.

Snapdragon 690 is a new processor launched by Qualcomm in June to popularize 5G to mid-range smartphones. This is currently the only SoC from Qualcomm to support 5G, which has only appeared on the early 7 and 8 chip models. However, this chip only supports 5G sub 6 technology, the maximum speed is about approx. 1Gb/s, does not support 5G mmWave technology, which has the fastest speed today, up to 5Gb/s maximum.

This new CPU model uses the Kryo 560 core, Qualcomm claims Snapdragon 690 achieves up to 20% increase in CPU performance and up to 60% GPU performance compared to Snapdragon 675. The ability to handle tasks in artificial intelligence is also accelerated. up to 70% thanks to its fifth-generation AI engine.

The factor that helps reinforce the promises of upgrades in performance is the fact that the Snapdragon 690 is manufactured on the 8nm process. This is also the first 6 chip to be produced in this process. Currently, OnePlus Nord N10 5G is the only phone using Qualcomm’s new generation mid-range chip. Most likely, in the near future, companies like Xiaomi, Realme, Nokia will soon launch products equipped with Snapdragon 690.

With familiar benchmarking software, Nord N10 gives more than 282 thousand AnTuTu points, of which the CPU score is more than 106 thousand points and the GPU score is more than 62 thousand points. The overall score of the system is close to that of the Snapdragon 732G, but the GPU score is still about 30% worse.

When playing games like League of Legends Wild Rift, Lien Quan Mobile, Call of Duty Mobile, PUBG Mobile, OnePlus Nord N10 for smooth, agile performance, stable frame, not much ups and downs when fighting crowded but only turned on the average graphics level, not to the highest level. It can be seen that the Snapdragon 690 is almost the 5G version of the Snapdragon 730G.

Battey life is sable, charging almost 1 hour is full

Nord N10 owns a 4300mAh battery, not too big, but actual use shows that the device gives a good battery life, enough to use a day with high intensity. In normal daily use, I usually achieve 7-8 hours of screen time with web browsing, photography, gaming, 4G, Bluetooth, GPS on continuously.

VnReview’s standard battery tests on the Nord N10 gave good results with about 14 hours and 36 minutes of continuous movie watching, 10 hours and 24 minutes of continuous web surfing, and 6 hours and 13 minutes of continuous gaming. The battery test results between 90Hz and 60Hz screens are not too big, so you can confidently turn on 90Hz mode for a smooth experience.

The device comes with a 30W Warp 30T fast charger. Actual full charge time from 0% to 100% takes about 1 hour 12 minutes, of which the first 30 minutes charge 53%.

Oxygen OS software is smooth but has not been upgraded to Android 11

The key point that makes OnePlus famous in addition to high configuration, attractive price is also in the customized operating system Oxygen OS. This is a customized operating system that is highly appreciated by the world technology community for its smoothness, almost on par with the original Android on Google Pixel devices while still providing many deep tweaking modes for the interface, feature. With the OnePlus Nord N10, the device comes pre-installed with Oxygen OS 10.5 based on Android 10.

The point that I find most impressive on OxygenOS is that the transition effects, opening and closing applications are all very agile and smooth. The system interface and default apps such as calling, messaging, photo gallery are made airy and intuitive. Although using an LCD screen, the device still has the Ambient Display feature (a basic form of Always On Display) to help display information about the date, time, battery level, notifications every time you touch the screen or pick up the phone.

An interesting feature in OxygenOS is Zen Mode, which helps you “deto phone” temporarily by turning off all distracting notifications and features, keeping only basic features like calling, take a photo. A special feature is that once activated, Zen mode cannot be canceled. Only when the preset time expires (ranging from 20 to 60 minutes), you can exit this mode to return to normal.

OxygenOS now has version 11, based on Android 11 with many new features, but it seems OnePlus still wants to save it for flagship devices like the 8/8 Pro/8T. Another note is that Nord N10 only supports updating 1 version of Android, which means that the device can only be upgraded to Android 11, not to Android 12 or 13 in the coming years.

Summary

OnePlus Nord N10 has created its own highlight when equipped with a new generation of 5G connectivity, besides agile performance, smooth Oxygen OS operating system, many customizations, good quality main camera, high refresh rate screen. , dual speakers, good battery life, fast charging.

At the same time, the Nord N10’s screen has low brightness, making it difficult to take pictures outdoors. Super wide-angle camera for average quality, especially when shooting in low light.

At the genuine price range of VND 8 million, the OnePlus Nord N10 5G will compete with a series of fierce rivals such as Poco X3 NFC, Oppo Reno 4, Realme 7, vivo V20, Vsmart Aris, Samsung Galaxy A51. Temporarily, the representative of OnePlus has the advantage in 5G connectivity, but it is likely that this advantage will not last long because competitors are also “trying to” launch 5G phones at the same price. Nord N10.